Fire resistant pack



United States Patent O 3,082,713 FIRE RESISTANT PACK Bert K. Elgin, 410 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, Ind. Filed July 20, 1960, Ser. No. 44,069 4 Claims. (Cl. 109-82) This application is a continuation-impart of application Serial No. 831,769, tiled August 5, 1959, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to a Jrire resistant container.

Frequently business men and other individuals desire to carry valuable papers with them when traveling from place to place. Usually the conventional briefcase is used as a container for such papers. As is well known, the various public and private conveyances are subject to accidents which frequently result in fires. Conventional briefcases and other similar containers are not lire resistant and, in fact, are usually constructed of combustible m-aterial and therefore do not provide proper protection against re for papers contained therein.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a lire resistant briefcase or container for papers and the like.

Other related objects will become apparent as the description proceeds.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a lire resistant container embodying the present invention showing the container with a portion thereof broken away.

FIG. 2 is a section taken partially through the container of FIG. l along the line '2 2 of that ligure and in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the container of FIG. 1 showing the container in a closed condition.

Referring now to the drawings, this invention comprises a lire resistant container or brief case, indicated generally by the numeral 10, and made up of an elongated rectangular section of fire resistant material which is folded back upon itself in such a manner as to form a front Wall 11, a rear wall 12 and a closure ap 13. The front and rear walls 11 and 12 are stitched together at their opposite edges 15 and 16 to form a receptacle having a passage 17 at its upper end providing access to the receptacle.

A conventional zipper 20 is secured to the rear wall 12 andthe front wall 11 and provides a means for closing the passage 17. The ap 13 is foldable to the position illustrated in FIG. 3 yand may be secured to the front wall in such position by means of conventional snap fasteners 21-21 xed to the front wall 11 and the ap 13.

The material used for stitching the front and rear walls together and for stitching the margin or terminal edges 14 of the flap 13 and front wall 11 is glass thread which is capable of withstanding l000 Fahrenheit without harm to the stitched connection. However, nylon stitching is also used at the same locations as the glass thread, i.e. all along the edges 15 and 16 and the edges 14 in order to provide durability and to reenforce the glass thread which is subject to rapid wear from abrasion.

Preferably, any of the glass thread stitching which is located where it might be subject to abrasion, is covered by a binding material 18 sewn in place by nylon thread. It should be noted that all of the stitching necessary to hold the various parts of the present device together (except for a quilting arrangement discussed below) is glass thread reenforced by nylon thread.

Referring now more particularly to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a section through the front wall 11 of the 3,082,713 Patented Mar. 26, 1963 ICC receptacle which illustrates the various layers of material making up the front wall. It should be understood, however, that this section is also representative of the material in the rear wall 12 and the ap 13. The container has an outside covering 25 formed of vapor aluminized glass cloth in which the aluminum coats the outwardly facing surface of the glass cloth. The container also has an inside lining 26 which is formed of glass fiber cloth. Between these outer and inner layers 25 and 26 the following layers of fire resistant material are received, the layers being recited from the outermost layer to the innermost layer: glass ber cloth 1', -aluminum foil 2', aluminum silica in batt form 3', glass liber in batt form 4, aluminum foil 5', aluminum silica material in batt form 6', glass ber in batt form 7', aluminum foil 8', and glass ber cloth 9'.

An important feature of the invention is that air 30 is contained within and between the various layers of re resistant material for a purpose to be described. That is, air is contained within the layers which are in batt form such as the layers 3' and 4', but is not contained within the impervious layers of solid material such as the aluminum foil layers 2', 5 and 8'. The layers of material between the outside covering 25 and the inside lining 26 are quilted or diamond stitched together, as illustrated in FIG. l at 31 and as illustrated in FIG. 2, by means of nylon thread 33, in order to draw the various layers of material more closely together and to provide a relatively compact brief case or container. If the container is subjected to tire, such nylon thread will melt at a temperature of approximately 300 Fahrenheit thus allowing the air 30 which will be heated to expand within and between the layers of fire resistant material causing the various layers to be spaced apart for a most effective heat shielding arrangement.

It should be noted that all of the free edges of the various layers of material are sewn together by the above discussed glass thread. Thus, when the heated air expands between the layers spacing them apart, the glass thread holds the edges of the layers together Preventing or at least inhibiting leakage of air from between the layers and providing the above discussed heat shielding arrangement.

In a test sample of the present invention, the layers 1' and 9' and the inside lining 26 were made from glass iibercloth of a basket type weave in which the finished thickness of the cloth was .0035 inch and the yarn making up the cloth was .002 inch in diameter. The layers 4 and 7 were composed of B size glass fibers which have 41/2 microns average fiber diameter. The glass ber was fabricated into batt form without the employment of any bonding agents. The layers of aluminum foil 2', 5', and 8' each had a thickness of .001 inch. The container constructed from the above described re resistant layers of material was tested extensively and was found to be capable of withstanding 1,000 Fahrenheit in an open gas flame for at least 10 minutes without allowing the burning or in any way the loss of legibility of printed matter on conventional papers received within the container.

lWhile the invention has been described in some detail in the drawings and the foregoing description, they are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character as modifications within the broad scope of the invention may readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in this art, reference being had to the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

l. A fire resistant container comprising a receptacle formed of layers of fire resistant material at least some of which yare impervious, air contained within and between said layers, said layers being quilted together by a thread which melts under the action of heat of a lesser degree than that necessary to destroy said layers so as to allow said air to expand and space said layers for an effective heat shielding arrangement.

2. A re resistant container comprising a receptacle for-med of layers of lire resistant material at least some of which are impervious, air contained -within and between said layers, said layers 'being diamond stitched together by nylon thread.

3. A lire resistant container comprising a rectangular front wall, a rectangular rear wall ofthe same size as said front wall, said front and rear walls being joined at three of their edges to form a receptacle having a passage providing access to the interior of said receptacle, a flap extending from said rear Wall and foldable to a position wherein said tlap covers said passage, means for securing said ap in position and to said front wall, said walls and flap comprising an outside covering of aluminized glass cloth in ywhich the aluminum coats the outer surface of the glass cloth, an inner lining of glass fibre cloth, and the following layers of ire resistant material disposed between said covering and said lining from said covering to said lining: glass bre cloth, aluminum foil, aluminum silica material in batt form, glass libre in batt form, aluminum foil, aluminum silica material in batt form, glass libre in batt form, aluminum foil, and glass libre cloth; and air contained within and between said layers, at least some of said layers being impervious, said layers being joined at their marginal edges by glass thread stitching and being quilted together by thread which melts at approximately 300 Fahrenheit so as to allow said air to expand and space said layers for an elective heat shielding arrangement.

4. A lire resistant container comprising a receptacle formed of layers of fire resistant material, at least some of said layers being impervious, air contained within and Ibetween said layers, said layers being quilted together by a thread which melts under the action of heat of a lesser degree than that necessary to destroy said layers so as to allow said air to expand and space said layers for an effective heat shielding arrangement, and stitching at all of the free edges of said receptacle for retaining at least some 4of the expanded air between said layers, said last mentioned stitching being suiciently ire resistant to maintain the free edges of the layers stitched together at ternperatures greater than that necessary to rnelt said thread.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,458,243 Biddle Jan. 4, 1949 2,583,240 Thompson Jan. 22, 1952 2,632,187 Woofendale Mar. 24, 1953 2,690,199 Bennorth Sept. 28, 1954 2,709,667 'Grubb May 31, 1955 2,726,977 See Dec. 13, 1955 2,930,105 Budd Mar. 29, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 202,381 Australia Nov. 24, 1955 

2. A FIRE RESISTANT CONTAINER COMPRISING A RECEPTACLE FORMED OF LAYERS OF FIRE RESISTANT MATERIAL AT LEAST SOME 